


Legends of a Lost World

by ladysunflower



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Conspiracy, Drama, F/M, Gen, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-05 21:12:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6723598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladysunflower/pseuds/ladysunflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a serious injury on the job, Judy is put on restricted duty - with Nick along for the ride, naturally - to investigate a series of unsolved robberies from the Museum of Classical Antiquities. However, as Judy doesn't know the meaning of the word "restricted", she soon finds them embroiled in the middle of a world-spanning conspiracy regarding the actual nature of the relics and why so many are willing to lie, steal and kill to keep those secrets hidden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning - the Prologue is a bit of a backstory infodump. Originally I had intended to juxtaposition this in to later chapters, but I realized it didn't feel natural when I tried it. So the Prologue is a bit disjointed and probably too long, but sets us up for some angst and complications later down the line.
> 
> This work will have romance, and expect a slow burn to it, but romance is not the main intention of this fic. This is my first hand at writing mystery/detective fiction, so I heartily appreciate your feedback on how I'm doing. I'm going to be doing a lot of world-building, and guys, I will do my best with the animal puns, but there is a limit on my creativity. :P

Nick had learned to hate hospitals when he was still a young kit, and life had certainly never given him a good reason to think otherwise.  He sat in the waiting room, head in paws, vaguely aware of his colleagues slowly filtering in to sit in the battered chairs next to him.  They probably had spoken some platitudes to him at some point, and certainly someone had awkwardly patted his shoulder, but Nick was lost to the present.

In his mind’s eye, all he could do was replay the night’s incident over and over again.  The way the hyena had twisted with surprising finesse in his grip, the dim glint of metal and whisk of sound as the shiv had shaved the air close to his muzzle.  The two had gone down wrestling as Nick called upon his training to disarm the perp, and true to form, there by his side was Judy in a flash, pinning the hyena’s arm and prying the shiv away. 

But something was off.  The hyena was strong, stronger than he should have been, and Nick had only belatedly seen the orange glint in the hyena’s eyes.  Nick hadn’t been prepared for the surge of strength in the bigger mammal as he had turned on Judy and sunk his formidable teeth into her side, just below her chest armor.

The scream Judy had let out was outrage turned to pain, and even as Nick was fumbling in his belt for his tranquilizer gun, the hyena shook his head back and forth.  Nick heard a sickening crunch just as he stabbed one of his darts directly into the hyena’s neck.  It had perhaps only been seconds, but Judy was staring wide-eyed at Nick as the fox worked to free her from the hyena’s foam-riddled jaws.

She had passed out amidst his frantic calls for an ambulance as he had pressed his shirt up against her wound.  There had been so much blood.  And Nick was left blaming himself for it all; with his superior night vision, he should have seen the telltale symptoms of drug use before they had confronted the perp.

They would have never approached the hyena had they known he was on Primal Orange, the new Night Howler-derived designer street drug running rampant through Zootopia’s black market, named for the peculiar orange tint that saturated the whites of the eyes upon consumption.  The effects were mild in comparison to the super strong variant Bellwether had been shooting predators with, and more importantly, they were engineered to wear off within a few hours of use.  But even in its reduced form, the effect it had on users was still nothing to sneeze at. 

Mammals on Primal Orange had enhanced senses, quicker reflexes, and a certain lack of inhibitions.  It also had a pain-numbing effect that made its users feel invincible, and for some, like the hyena, that exhibited itself in almost supernatural strength.  The result was a primal rush – hence the name - that many mammals, predators and prey alike, felt was freeing and exhilarating.  But the kicker was the hyper aggression that came with its use, causing no end of grief for the ZPD all over the city as its users committed crimes large and small, culminating in tonight’s attack on one of their own.

Nick knew he had failed to properly assess the hyena’s demeanor before approaching, and now Judy was paying the price for his negligence.  Her blood was on his paws – quite literally, as he hadn’t cleaned up at all since the EMTs had deposited him in the waiting room a few hours earlier.

Nauseous, he tried to force his mind away from repeating tonight’s scene, and his mind responded by bringing up his last memory of being in a hospital, sitting in a room not unlike this one, waiting for that fateful moment when the doctors would return and tell him all hope was lost.  He could still remember the way his mother’s paw had gripped his, the way the elk doctor had slowly knelt down to address them privately, the smell of fear and blood and despair clinging to his scrubs.

 _"We did all that we could, Mrs Wilde, but I’m afraid your husband has passed,"_ that voice had muttered the day Nick’s life had changed irrevocably for the worse.  Nick hadn’t known it at the time that his parents had only barely scraped by before then, though his mother had managed to hide their poverty after the loss of his father’s income for a few years after.  But the harsh reality of the world and its hatred towards his kind invariably won out, and Nick found himself on the streets at merely twelve years of age, running scams, providing the extra money his mother was loathe to accept but found she couldn’t not do so, either.

By the time she had finally landed a better job to support them, he was already too entrenched into the Zootopian underbelly and the quick money that came with it to give it up so easily.  She had never really forgiven him for not finishing high school; by the time he was twenty he was unable to stand her disappointment any longer and left home, where he had gone to the welcoming arms of Mr Big’s grandmamma.  He lied to his mother about getting a job and lied to her about not being homeless, because otherwise she would have never accepted the money he sent back to her. 

Thanks to Judy, he no longer had to lie.  Thanks to Judy, many things in his life had become better, and he had finally had hope, had purpose.  And of course, how did he repay that?  The first time she needed him – really needed him – to back her up, he had failed her.  He knew Judy wouldn’t see it that way, knew in some corner of his mind that perhaps he shouldn’t either, but he couldn’t help but shake in anger at himself.

His ears twitched as he heard the soft shuffle of approaching footsteps, knew who was coming because he could smell the coppery yet distinctive tinge of _her_ blood wafting in, a smell he had become entirely too familiar with tonight.  Any moment, the surgeon would tell him she was gone, that there was nothing they could do, and all hope would be lost.  He found himself clenching the fur at his temples, tensing, trembling.

“It was touch and go for a while, but we have her stabilized.  As long as her condition doesn’t worsen anytime in the next 12 hours, we expect her to recover without complications,” the svelte voice of the lioness surgeon spoke gently.

Like a marionette whose strings have been cut, Nick sagged back against the chair, boneless.  The relief was palpable as the mood in the room shifted from despair to optimism, and Nick could only let out a stuttered gasp before tears overtook him.

* * *

The doctors would only let one of them sit with her that night – a courtesy they didn’t normally extend to families of patients with the tentative condition Judy was in, but had made an exception for the ZPD.  However, the Chief wouldn’t hear of Nick going up to her room until the fox had gone back to the station to clean up first.  And then he had to go through an extra UV light quarantine procedure before being allowed into Judy’s room, least he bring any outside germs in which could upturn the delicate balance her compromised immune system was in.

Thus, Nick found himself at Judy’s side a little more than two hours later, fur still damp from the vigorous scrubbing he’d given himself in the station’s showers.  The faint scent of the generic sandalwood soap the station bought clung heavily to him.  Normally, Nick found the smell almost oppressive, but it was a welcome change from the sickening musk of rabid hyena and Judy’s blood.  He held her tiny paw in both of his, leaning on his elbows on her bed as he attentively watched her take deep breaths assisted by a ventilator.

The hyena had managed to crack her lower ribs, lacerate her liver, and puncture her gall bladder, kidney and intestines.  She was lucky, the surgeon had said, that her lungs had avoided any trauma.  They had ended up removing her gallbladder as they patched her intestines, and the liver would probably heal, but there was uncertainty with the prognosis for her kidney.  She had another, at least, the surgeon had quipped, as if that would make it easier for Nick to hear.  The real concern was whether or not she would develop an infection from the hyena’s bite or the subsequent surgery.  The surgeon hadn’t explicitly stated that an infection would definitely kill Judy, but Nick knew how to listen between the words the lioness had softly spoken to him earlier.

So Nick forced himself to stay awake through the long night, watching her, breathing in her scent and her ventilated exhalations for even the barest hint of that sickly sweet stench that heralded infection.  He wasn’t sure if he could even detect it before it was too late for anything to be done about it, but if anyone’s nose was sensitive enough, it would be his.  And thus he found himself with a lot of time that night to contemplate Judy and their friendship.

God, did he love her.  He knew he had ever since she had come back to him, apologizing in tears under the bridge that fateful day.  She was the first person, outside of his parents, to ever have faith in him, the first to ever own up to her faults while not enumerating his, and what was more, the first to see him for more than he wanted to be seen.  She may have even been the first non-relative that he selflessly loved like this; he wanted nothing from her but her friendship, though of course, the job reference hadn’t hurt, either.  He wasn’t sure, as almost every single other friendship or relationship in his past was now soured by pain and doubt.  It was hard to remember long-gone positive feelings when surrounded by the knowledge of the horrible things that would come, and he was terrified of one day remembering Judy in that same light.

But there was something new stirring in him now, and he turned the idea over in his head and in his heart as he watched her.  It was her deep breathing, the occasional twitch of her ears or nose, and the softness of her paw in his that brought the feeling to a stark reality.  She was his best friend - his only _good_ friend, really; his confidant and his partner.  They shared a crappy two-bedroom flat and spent almost all their time together, on or off duty.  In the short year they’d been working together on the force, she had become the single most important mammal in his life next to his mother.  And he didn’t know what he would do if he lost her.

While he knew that she returned his love as a best friend, he couldn’t help but wonder in his heart of hearts whether he wasn’t _in_ love with her as well.  In some ways, Nick reasoned that it was strange that the thought that was only _now_ occurring to him as he studied her, and not at any time in the year before.  Stranger still, because he didn’t even think he was attracted to her. 

If she had only been a fox…hell, if she had been any type of canid at all, there would be no question.  But aside from sharing the lithe body shape most canids had, she lacked any of the features Nick would normally find appealing in a vixen.  Her short tail, her even shorter muzzle and her ridiculous ears were cute, certainly, but he definitely couldn’t say it got the blood pumping. 

Yet when he considered her, the whole of her – the way her eyes sparkled at his stupid jokes, the way she always returned his wisecracks with a grin, the way she could out-hustle him on the best of days, the way he enjoyed her company on the worst of days, and the way she _always_ had his back – it couldn’t be clearer to him now…he was partially infatuated with her. 

He was possessive of her in a way he had only felt during his past romances; the idea of her falling in love with some rabbit and settling down made him itch with jealousy.  He wanted to always be with her, and he wanted to be the first in her heart as she was in his.  And he knew that was unfair of him to consider her like that when she had never given any indication of being even remotely attracted to anyone outside her species.  Even moreso when he wasn’t sure of it himself!  He was just setting himself up for heartache, and furthermore, endangering their friendship.  But he couldn’t help it, not this, and not now, when he had been so close to losing her forever – and still might yet, if her condition changed.

Nick quirked his lips and murmured a soft, “What am I going to do with you, Carrots,” as he watched her.  Even realizing the irony and fallacy of the situation, he couldn’t let go of this feeling, especially not when he’d only just found it.

So he kept his vigilance over her that long night, resolving to keep this revelation strictly close to the vest, lest he ruin the best thing that had ever happened to him.

* * *

**...**

* * *

Six weeks after her injury, Judy Hopps had a fairly long and comprehensive list of every mammal she was going to kill if she ever went off the deep end; an event which was fast approaching by her reckoning.  Top of the list was reserved for Bogo for notifying her parents about her injury, quickly followed _by_ her parents themselves for not leaving town the moment she was able to hobble around the apartment by herself.  They’d actually manage to scare Nick back to work on day six after her release, a feat she hadn’t thought possible given the way he had been practically attached to her side for the two weeks she’d been in recovery at the hospital.

Chief Bogo had given Nick a month of paid leave after the incident with the hyena - where a week was the norm - knowing that Nick would be useless while Judy was in the hospital, and simply annoying if Judy wasn’t at work when he was.  So when Nick had returned to work a week early, Bogo had given Nick parking duty, a job that Nick had initially taken with a sort of sardonic humor.  But three days into _that_ , the fox had been so bored to tears he’d actually begged Bogo to let him go back on the beat, even if that meant partnering with the unpartnerable Wolford.  That had lasted another week before Wolford had begged for parking duty just to get away from Nick for a day.

As a means to keep in touch with the inner workings of her work life while she was stuck at home, Clawhauser had quickly became Judy’s new texting BFF.  To hear him tell it, Bogo had informed both Wolford and Nick that the cape buffalo wasn’t “running a bloody game of musical chairs” for assignments.  Wolford was put on speed enforcement and Nick was punted to nights working the drunk wagon, picking up intoxicated mammals that loitered around Downtown after dark.  Which meant Nick was back at their flat during the day, and thus found himself in the #3 spot on her list, finally bumping down Dr Sarabi and Dr Watership at Zootopia General Hospital who had insisted she stay an extra three days when she had been perfectly _fine_ to go home.

She loved her parents.  She _loved_ her parents.  And Nick.  But she could barely tolerate having three nursemaids when she had actually been invalid; having them still hovering at this point into her recovery was enough to drive her up the wall.  It had been nice to have her mother’s home cooking at first, as well as catching up on the gossip back home, but now her mother had finally exhausted all of the news about her siblings and niblings and was quickly working her way through Judy’s second cousins. 

And her father had waited on her paw and foot, which had been helpful when she had been bedbound.  Now, he kept clipping newspaper and printing off online job openings, trying to persuade her to change careers.  As if she hadn’t spent four years working on her criminal justice degree and graduated valedictorian at the Zootopia Police Academy to become a mall cop the first time she got hurt.

And Nick…Nick had _facilitated_ , which was in some ways was an even worse sin.  She could understand her parents.  She couldn’t understand this sudden Bizarro behavior from him.  He managed to retain details about a good number of Judy’s family members, and anytime the conversation lulled and Judy thought she might actually get a moment’s silence, Nick would go and _inquire_ about some random detail and start Bonnie Hopps up in a tizzy all over again about last spring’s barn dance or whatever.  And he’d actually managed to get the daily newspaper from Bunnyburrow delivered to the apartment _and_ set up the laptop and printer for Stu to use. 

Judy _knew_ , she _knew_ Nick didn’t care about Bunnyburrow gossip, or even really want her parents there at all – and he certainly didn’t think Judy needed a new job - yet he still seemed determined to keep her parents engaged and feel welcomed even when she knew _he knew_ she wanted them gone.  It was infuriating.  And she couldn’t confront him on it, because what was she going to say to him?  _Stop being so nice to my parents, Nick._ Yea, she’d like to see his face when she said that one.

And then she thought she finally had a chance to at least get her parents out now that Nick was working nights.

“Please, you guys,” she had literally begged, “Nick will be here if I need anything, and I’ll be sleeping when he’s not, so there’s really no reason for you to stay any longer.  I know they must be missing you back at the farm.”

Her father had actually huffed a sigh, and her mother had given a rather placating smile and said, “Bun bun, you know we’d rather stay here with you until you get better.”

“Yea, your brothers and sisters can handle things well enough on their own.  I reckon at least for another couple a’ weeks while you’re still taking it easy as the doc said,” her father had added.

“But it must be so expensive to be staying in a hotel this whole time,” she had countered, and when she saw the uneasy glance they had given each other, she knew she had them at their weakest.  After raising 276 children - a large brood even by Bunnyburrow standards - her parents were, by necessity, the very definition of frugal.

And then Nick had popped his head around the corner and contributed to the fucking conversation with, “Mr and Mrs Hopps, if you’d like to stay longer, you’re welcome sleep in my bed.  I’ll take the couch!”

As her parents’ faces had lit up, and they promised to stay at least another ten days, behind their backs Nick had given her the smarmiest grin she’d ever seen on his dumb fox face.  At that point, Judy had actually begun to wonder if this wasn’t some deliberate ploy on his part to antagonize her.  She wracked her brain for whatever slight she could have done him to deserve this kind of treatment, and coming up blank had moved him from a comfy spot at number ten to a solid third place, if not vying for second with her parents.

Something strange was up with Nick, and Judy was going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

**...**

* * *

It was the day after she’d finally gotten rid of her parents, and three days sooner than they’d planned.  Nick had gotten in at 4:30 in the morning, but had the day off, so she expected him to be out cold most of the morning.  She quietly dressed as the predawn light filtered in through her bedroom window, and Judy Hopps had a game plan.

She was going to take the 6:15am train down to ZGH, corner Dr Watership (she knew didn’t have a ghost of a chance of pressuring Dr Sarabi, but Peter Watership was a guaranteed pushover) before he began his 7am rounds and force him to sign her release back to work.  Then, she was going to catch a cab down to Civic Center, and enter the ZPD headquarters through the garage during the 8am shift change so Clawhauser wouldn’t see her and snitch.  She would be waiting in Bogo’s office by the time he returned from handing out the 8:30am assignment in the bullpen, and not leave until she had negotiated at _least_ a return to light duty.  She was going to start negotiations at getting back on the beat, but was willing to haggle down to speed enforcement.  She even might get Nick back on day shift to join her; not that he deserved it after that performance last week.

Of course, she had to get out the front door first.  She eased her bedroom door open with nary a creak and softly padded down the hallway, ears primed for the barest hint of movement from Nick’s bedroom as she passed.  She ducked to her left through the kitchen and had gotten the deadbolt unlocked when she heard, _felt_ , movement nearby, and she jumped in surprise.

“Going somewhere, Carrots?”  The kitchen was so dark she hadn’t even seen him when she first entered, but now her eyes adjusted to the dim light.  Nick was standing at the kitchen sink, a coffee mug in hand and still in uniform.  He had been looking out the tiny window, but lazily tilted his head to look at her she stared.

“Nick, g-good morning!” she began defensively, but quick as ever, she changed tactics before he could press her. “Why haven’t you gone to bed yet?”

She couldn’t see him smirk, but she knew he was most certainly doing so from the way his voice sounded when he spoke.  “Just enjoying this beautiful sunrise,” came his response, though the window he was at faced west.

“I thought I’d just get out, get some air.  Gotta keep limber and all, doctor’s orders!” she said, knowing instantly that her tone of voice was too high-pitched and a bit too giddy, but honestly her heart was still hammering from the moment before when he’d startled her.

“Great, I’ll walk with you,” Nick said far too brightly, setting his mug down on the counter and sauntering towards her.  Judy gritted her teeth.

“Nick, it’s okay.  I just want to get out, you know?  I’m tired of people hovering,” she said, her voice faltering for an honest moment at the end.  Nick drew up short when he heard that, yet he still raised an eyebrow at her.

“And I don’t suppose that walk might end at the station by any chance, would it?”  Of course, the ZPD headquarters was at least thirty minutes by train from their apartment; there was no chance of her simply “stopping by” like she was in the neighborhood.

There was no point in lying to him – and she avoided doing that, regardless.  “Well, the hospital first, but then, yes, I thought I’d talk to the Chief about when I could return to work.”  _Like today_ , she added silently.

He regarded her silently for a moment, and he opened his mouth as if he was going to argue the point with her, before he snapped it shut.  He began again, “You know Bozo isn’t going to let you come back yet, even with a signed release.”

“I know, Nick, but I just…I can’t sit around here anymore.  I need to at least try.”  She sighed.  “Please don’t fight me on this.”

Nick smiled wryly at her and raised a paw to ruffle the fur on her head, before grabbing his coat off the door.  “Okay Fluff, but I’m still coming with you.” 

She squinted at him, annoyed, reaching up to smooth her fur back down, but as they headed out the front door into the chilly morning, she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved that he was coming along.  Especially since he was in uniform – that would make intimidating Watership much, much easier.

* * *

“Wilde, what are you still doing here?” Chief Bogo intoned, staring down his snout at Nick as the slender fox leaned against a column with a bored expression.

“Well Chief, I did go home, but I’ll give you three guesses as to why I’ve decided to grace you with my presence this morning,” Nick replied, with a nod of his head towards Bogo’s office.

The cape buffalo closed his eyes, knowing immediately what Nick was talking about.  “Wilde, you had _one_ job…”

“Let me stop you right there, sir.  You have _no idea_ what I’ve gone through the past two weeks keeping her out of trouble,” Nick said gravely, paw over his heart and wearing only the tiniest of smirks.

Bogo shook his head and opened the door to his office, and jerked his head towards the chair Judy Hopps was sitting in.  “Might as well be in here for this, Wilde.”

Nick sauntered into the office under the chief’s arm and instead of taking a seat next to Judy, he leaned up against the leg of her chair, studiously _not_ looking at her.

“Officer Hopps, you never told me you were so pious,” Bogo remarked as he rounded the back of his desk.  Sure enough, there was a short leaf of stapled papers with the Zootopia General Hospital letterhead sitting on his day calendar.  Knowing the format well enough, he scanned to see the words “return to light duty” signed by a Dr Peter Watership in a rather shaky scribble.

“Sir?” Judy asked uncertainly, and Nick couldn’t help but notice the way she wrung her paws in her lap out of the corner of his eye.

“I was led to believe that you would be in recovery and physical therapy for at least six months, and yet here you sit in my office, barely seven weeks later.  I can only assume some sort of religious miracle has taken place,” Bogo said, his desk chair creaking ominously as he sat heavily in it, eyes slightly narrowed at Judy.  “Shall I send for a priest?”

“Well, sir, rabbits heal faster than most mammals because of our metabolism, and you know, I’ve always –” Judy began and Bogo raised a hoof, cutting her off.

“Save it, Hopps.  I don’t want to know how you managed to bully or bluff them into signing a release, but you’re not returning to work in any capacity before three months are up.”

“Sir!” Judy protested, actually standing up in the chair, ears quivering.  “Dr Watership evaluated me and signed a release…”

“I don’t care.  Come back in five weeks, and _maybe_ I’ll assign you to Records.”  Bogo scooped up her release forms and held them out to his side before dropping them into the waste bin.

“But sir - !”

“This isn’t a discussion, Hopps.  Until you are fully recovered, you are a _liability_ , do you understand me?  I won’t have you reinjuring yourself, or worse, putting your colleagues in danger because your ego can’t handle not being in the thick of it for a few months.  Now, get out of my office, and Wilde, I don’t even want to see a hair of you until Friday night.”

Nick flicked a couple of fingers in a lazy salute and turned to help Judy down out her chair.  She spluttered for a moment, and then her ears laid flat against her skull as she squinted at Nick, nose twitching.  She ignored his helpful paws and slowly eased herself down out of the chair, but there was no hiding the wince and the paw she held to her ribs when she had to fall a few inches to the ground.

They slowly made it downstairs, and Nick said absolutely nothing when Judy had stopped to rest at Clawhauser’s desk under the pretense of “catching up” with the cheetah.  They both knew Judy probably talked to Clawhauser more than Nick at this point, but the fox just stuck his paws in his coat pockets and waited.

Finally, when they were outside the station, he turned to her and said, “I don’t know what you were expecting, Carrots.”

He could actually hear her grinding her teeth.  “I’m sorry you had to _put up_ with so much lately to keep me, quote, ‘out of trouble’, Wilde.”  Ah, so she’d heard that exchange outside the Chief’s office – not that he was surprised.

“Well, you didn’t make it easy, I’ll give you that,” he teased her, not wanting to respond defensively to her anger.  If he did, she’d just press it, and Nick knew he was decidedly _not_ in the wrong here.

She stomped away from him, ears rigidly upright and paws fisted at her sides.  That lasted about thirty steps before she had to pause and catch her breath.  He felt a twinge of guilt as he caught up to her – he _should_ have made her stay home instead of going on this farce of an outing.

“Judy,” he began softly as he leaned down to her level, hoping that she might actually listen to him if he used her name, “you don’t have anything to prove here.  Everyone in that station knows you’re a great cop – heck, probably the best we’ve got.  But there isn’t any shame in taking time to get better after being injured on the job.”

He couldn’t put into words how relieved he felt when she deflated, the fight – and all pretense of being able-bodied - going out of her as she leaned against him.  He bent his elbow towards her so she’d have something to hang onto, and let her set the pace as they continued to the train station.

“You’re right, Nick, there is no shame in getting injured…but it’s my fault this happened, and, I don’t know, I guess I’m really angry at myself…”

“What?” he asked sharply, not quite believing what he was hearing.

“We knew that there was rampant PO use in that area, and I should have made us get downwind of the perp so he wouldn’t have scented us approaching.  I should have given you time to put that great night vision of yours to use and assess him first.  But we’d been following leads on that guy all week, and I was just…overeager that we’d finally spotted him.”  Judy squeezed his arm and looked up to give him a watery smile.  “I was a bad partner, a bad senior officer, and I shouldn’t have put you in danger like that.  I’m just glad I paid for my arrogance instead of you.”

Jesus, she blamed herself for this.  Nick literally let his jaw hang open a bit, eyes wide as he stared ahead, still unable to process how in the world she had come to the conclusion that that night was _anything_ but his fault.  Then he laughed at the absurdity of it all, startling Judy into peering up at him again.

“Heh, Carrots, I don’t think you can take all the credit here.  I’ve been blaming myself, you know, but…if we’re partners, that means we gotta share the fault, too.  You’re right, all those things should have occurred to you before we approached him.  But it should have occurred to me, too.  We both messed up.”  He paused then, grabbing her paw where it rested in the crook of his elbow.  “But if one of us is going to get bit by a primal hyena, there is no way in hell it should have been you.”

For a moment, Judy looked like she was going to argue with him on that last point, but then she smirked and shrugged her shoulders.  “What happened to him, anyway?”

“The perp?  I think he goes to trial next week, actually.  The DA totally threw the book at him: aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, possession with intent to distribute, to name a few.”

“The trial’s next week…are you serious?” Judy gaped.  “That’s insane how fast they pushed it through!”

“Well, you are kind of a celebrity cop, Carrots,” he teased.  “Zootopia’s first bunny cop mauled by a drug-addled pred?  The press ate it up.”

Judy set her mouth in a grim line, and he knew he’d struck a nerve with that one.  She rarely liked to be reminded that she was more famous for what she was than what she’d done. 

“Are you going to court to testify, then?” she asked, not rising to his bait.

It said something about her condition, the way she let the “mauled bunny cop” comment drop instead of making a point to be offended with him about it.  Besides, he knew that song and dance of hers already.  Still, now he was somewhat worried about how she was feeling.  He wondered about how much of a fight she would put up if he just scooped her up now and carried her home.

It probably wasn’t worth the beating or berating he’d get later.  Probably.

“Yea, they want me to come in.  Want you to come in as well, if you’re up for it.”  Nick shrugged.  He had told the prosecutor to take a flying leap for asking Judy to come to court, but now that she was walking about in public, he supposed there was nothing for it.  And the DA could probably get in touch with her if they really needed her.

He glanced sidelong at the way she was trying to hide her out-of-breath wheezing, and directed them to the curb.  “Fluff, I was up all night, and frankly, I’m tired of walking.  Mind if I catch us a cab?”

There was no fooling her that he was calling the taxi for her, but he had never intended to do so.  She just smiled and rested her head against his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take a lot of liberties with limited medical and veterinary knowledge in regards to Judy's injuries and prognosis.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the longest five weeks of Judy Hopps’s life.  By the time Bogo had finally given her the go to get her release paperwork redone and see him at 8am on Monday, she was ready to settle for _anything_ he gave her - even if it meant Records - just to get back to work.

She felt rather confident he wouldn’t, though, as he was moving Nick back to day shift on Monday as well, which meant they’d probably be partnering again, and you didn’t need a partner to work Records.  And as much as she was willing to settle, the thought of working with Nick again filled Judy with a palpable sense of excitement.

Nick had been...weird, in a word.  It had been more noticeable and understandable when her parents were around, but once they’d left, he’d never settled back into any routine Judy expected from him.  Frankly, he set her on edge.  One moment he’d be teasing her like nothing had ever happened, and the next he’d clam up, like he didn’t know how to act around her.

They used to rough-house a little, especially when it came to fighting for the TV remote, but now he simply acquiesced to whatever she wanted to watch if it seemed like she was going to get physical over it.  She supposed part of that could have been due to her injury, but there was still something off about him that she couldn’t quite place.  It was almost like he was afraid; but not for her… _of_ her.

Of course, she hadn’t been surprised to find out he’d blamed himself for the night of her attack.  That sort of self-deprecating low self-esteem mixed with a touch of narcissism was typical of Nick.  Yet still, he’d shown a surprising amount of maturity when he told her they shouldered the blame together, and he’d been right.  But a mature Nick Wilde was not one Judy was accustomed to, and she didn’t know if she should be proud or terrified.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a mature Nick that accompanied her to the station this morning.  He was all smirk, ears relaxed, paws in his coat pockets, a slight swagger in the sway of his tail – all-in-all, a sight for sore eyes.  Judy herself was bright-eyed, and literally bushy-tailed, with just a little bounce in her step every now and then.  They were going to be partners again, and they both felt in high spirits.  Maybe finally things could go back to normal!

Which was why Judy was understandably distressed when Bogo uttered two absolutely damning words: Restricted Duty.

"But sir, they released me back to a light workload, not a restricted one…" Judy protested, wringing her paws.  Nick was sitting very still beside her, and she half wanted him to speak up, too, even if that would only piss the Chief off.

"Like I told you weeks ago, Hopps, I don’t care what kind of racket you have going on down at the hospital – at the ZPD, I am judge, jury and executioner.  And I am only clearing you for restricted duty," Chief Bogo said in a low, stern voice.  While earlier she had been willing to accept Records, now faced with the prospect, she felt it was all very unfair.

"But – "

"But nothing, Hopps.  Either accept it, or go back home for another couple months."

"But sir, why have Officer Wilde here with us if you’re only going to throw me into Records?" Judy asked with a sidelong glance at Nick, who met her gaze with raised eyebrows at being addressed.  Did he think he was here simply to observe?

"Who said anything about Records?  No, I know better than that.  If I put you in Records, you’ll find some long-abandoned cold case and go running half-cocked all over the city getting into God knows what trouble.  No, Hopps, I have a special assignment for you and Wilde to keep you two focused and productive."  The cape buffalo held up a thick yellow folder that had been sitting on his desk, and Judy’s ears perked attentively as Nick slightly leaned forward beside her.  He was giving them a case?

"This," Bogo began, "is the case file for a series of robberies that happened at the Museum of Classical Antiquities a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, resources were thin at the time due to the Missing Mammals case, and by the time we were able to dedicate officers back to the robberies, the leads had long gone cold.

"A week ago, there was a new development in the case.  The museum reported another artifact stolen, or rather, it had been replaced with a fake.  Fangmeyer and Delgato took the initial report, and unfortunately, the curators are unsure how long the fake had been masquerading as the real artifact before it was discovered.  However, they felt it was most certainly linked to the other robberies given that all the stolen objects so far have been from the same exhibit."

Bogo paused, taking a moment to leaf through the folder.  "Understand, this case isn’t as glamorous as the Missing Mammal or Night Howler cases, but we are talking about an estimated worth of five million dollars in stolen artifacts.  It is not insignificant.  And even without Hopps’s disability, I most likely would have assigned you two to this case, given your unique way of sniffing out leads…and your underground connections that I know nothing about."

Judy held herself still at that comment, glancing sidelong to see Nick smirk.  The Chief was talking about Nick’s connections, but Judy really hoped he never found out about her own.  She would never compromise her job by doing any illegal favors for her goddaughter’s grandfather, but it would look bad all the same if Chief Bogo were to learn she was linked to the crime family at all.  And a high profile robbery like this might just have Mr Big’s whiskers in it; all the more reason to be careful.

Bogo then handed the folder to Nick, but spoke directly to Judy.  "Officer Wilde will be taking lead on this case.  I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, Hopps, but restricted duty means no uniform, no displaying your badge, and absolutely no use of ZPD equipment.  If you two need to take any action normally reserved for a peace officer, then Wilde will be the one doing it.  And Wilde, Hopps is not appropriate back-up.  You will treat her as if she were a civilian.  If you two get into any hairy situations – and God knows you will – you _will_ request back-up from dispatch.  Do I make myself clear?"

Judy’s ears were flat against her back as she nodded, while Nick barely tilted his head in acknowledgement.  She could practically feel the suppressed glee rolling off the fox; he was really going to rub her nose in it later, no doubt. 

She wanted to argue with Bogo on principle, but in all reality, this situation wasn’t terrible.  They were getting a case to solve!  And the Chief had been right – had he assigned her to Records, she _would_ have gone looking for unsolved cases to crack.  She wasn’t sure if she should be disturbed that he could predict her so well this soon into her career.

"Very well.  After roll-call, Fangmeyer will debrief you about the case so far, so direct any questions to him.  Dismissed," Bogo said, summarily ignoring them by directing his attention towards some papers on his desk.

Once they were out of his office, Nick broke out in a grin, fanning the file at Judy’s face while he walked backwards.  "At last, the student becomes the master…" he intoned.  Judy rolled her eyes, but grinned, reaching forward to pinch at his side in response.  He sidestepped her with what was almost a little dance before falling into place beside her.  She hoped being lead on the case wouldn't make him too insufferable; not that it took much.

"I need to go change out of my uniform if I’m going to be plainsclothes, then.  I’ll meet you at Fangmeyer’s desk after you’re done with roll-call?" she asked, tilting her head up at him.

"Sure.  I gotta say, Carrots, you’re taking this really well," Nick said, tucking the folder underneath his arm as they walked towards the stairs.

Judy shrugged.  "He’s given us an actual case, which is more than I would have thought to ask for.  That’s way better than sitting in the basement or," she shuddered, "parking duty.  And you know I want to make Detective one day…this will be good experience for me.  For us."  She amended, then paused, thinking.  "While it’s not a cold case, the fact that he didn’t assign it to a Detective means he thinks it’s unlikely we’ll find anything.  It would be a waste of resources otherwise, so he figures it will be enough to keep us busy until I’m ready to go back on the beat."

Nick chuckled and cocked an eyebrow.  "I guess that means we’ll just have to crack this one wide open.  Can’t have Bozo giving us the leftovers next time!"

She closed her eyes at his comment, swiveling her ears nervously to see if anyone was nearby.  "Nick, please don’t say that in the station!  You never know who could be listening," she scolded.

"Just because _you_ can hear a cricket sneeze in a five mile radius doesn’t mean anyone else can.  Relax, Carrots, I’m the very model of discreet."  He gave her a lazy smile, and she responded by tweaking the base of his tail, causing him to jump and give her a scandalous, but mocking glare.

It was good to be back at work with him.

* * *

They met twenty minutes later at Fangmeyer’s desk, a cubicle he shared with Delgato a few rows down from Nick and Judy’s own cubicle.  The white wolf swiveled his chair back and forth as he eyed the pair.

"We already interviewed the museum’s current staff, but that didn’t pan out," Fangmeyer said, pointing at the open file in Nick’s paws.  "Forensics came back negative for any unusual fur traces or paw prints within the display case.  Got results for the museum staff, of course, but that doesn’t mean much, as they were all authorized to be in there.  The exhibit is in an area that gets so much public traffic it was pointless to sweep it, so we didn’t even bother."

"Do they have any idea how long the fake could have been there?" Judy asked, looking over Nick’s arm to examine a photo of the artifact.  It was a fragment of a porcelain object, maybe a plate or platter of some sort, with traces of gilding along one rounded edge and the remnants of a rather pretty floral design on its surface.

"Well, the last time anyone took it out of its case on official business was about five years ago.  They do routine restoration or maintenance or something every five to ten years, supposedly.  The Professor – that’s the mammal in charge of the exhibit, _Professor_ Mortimer Ramsey, be sure to use his title when you talk to him, or you’re gonna get an ear full – anyway, he said that it could have been swapped decades ago for all they know.  They only found out it was a fake because a grad student wanted to do some sort of scientific analysis on the object, and when they did it, he found out that the porcelain was created with modern synthetic materials."  Fangmeyer shrugged, looking between the two of them and their disappointed expressions.  It was obvious to everyone involved that there was an ice cube’s chance in Hell they’d get a lead out of this with so much ambiguity in the timeline.

"Are they sure it was even real in the first place?" Nick asked what they were all thinking.  It wouldn’t be the first time a hoax had been sold to a museum and put on display.

"The Professor said he was there when they dug it out of the ground, supposedly, like forty years ago.  So there was a real plate at one point, and you would think it would have taken some time to get a fake that realistic, you know?  So we were thinking someone on the inside, who could have inspected it up close, most likely.  The problem with that," Fangmeyer drawled, "is that the Professor has had thirty six years’ worth of students going through that place working as interns, in addition to the regular museum staff turnover.  So, our next step would have been to start working through anyone who’s ever worked there, I guess, but we’re really chasing our own tails at that point."

"And the security footage?  How long do their tapes go back?" Judy asked.

"Six months, actually, and before you ask, it’s already been archived in Records," Delgato rumbled from behind the two as he entered the cubicle.  Judy stepped aside to let him pass, and the tiger took his chair, handing a manila case folder to Fangmeyer.  Manila was usually used for domestic abuse cases – those two certainly had a fun day ahead of them, Judy thought with a bit of envy. A moment later, she felt a palpable sense of shame at that thought, but carried the conversation forward uninterrupted.

"Wow, that’s actually…really good," Judy mused.  Most places only kept footage for sixty days at most.

"Yea, well, I don’t think you’re going to find anything on it if the last time anyone opened the case was five years ago," Fangmeyer said dismissively, but then his ears perked up. "But hey, if you want to go through six months worth of footage, you’re welcome to it.  This is a great case if you’ve got time to kill, let me tell you."

Judy’s ears flopped at the reminder that this case was nothing more than busywork from Bogo, and everyone knew it.

"And what about the other stolen artifacts?" Nick inquired, flipping through the file to find a series of photographs of the objects in question: a four-legged figurine, a pair of what looked to be carved horns, shards of featureless brown pottery, and some hexagonal red stones.

"Ramsey is convinced the robberies are linked to this, but I don’t see it," Delgato said, scratching his chin with one claw.  "Completely different methods, maybe not even in the same timeline, for all we know.  The other robberies took place systematically over two months, right before and during the Missing Mammals case, and yes, Records does have the archived footage from the museum during that time too.  _That_ was most definitely an inside job as well, and honestly, even if it’s two years old, you’ll have a better chance starting there than with the fake."

"I don’t understand."  Judy’s brow furrowed, and her foot began thumping on the floor.  "I understand that Bogo had to divert resources during the Missing Mammals case and the Night Howler incidents, but why wasn’t this picked up afterwards?"

"It was," Nick said, pointing to a report he’d just flipped to in the file.  "Detective Mosen had Forensics do a full analysis on everything that’d been collected from the displays at the time.  And…nothing?"  The fox blinked, and then looked up, his head swiveling between the two seated officers.

"Nothing."  Fangmeyer had a secretive grin as he nodded.  With the exception of a few species, most mammals were covered in fur, and naturally, fur shed, especially when mammals frequently travelled between the different climates in Zootopia.  It made some cases seem very open-and-shut – for example, finding a stranger’s fur in the apartment of a murdered mammal – but in reality, fur was easily transferrable between locations.  A mammal could pick up strands of fur by simply sitting on the subway, and the next thing you knew, your crime scene implicates a bunch of people who were never even remotely on the premise during the crime.  Let alone the issues you got in a public location.  Fur analysis was a hotly debated topic in criminal justice, and many maintained it should just be done away with altogether.

Paw prints were more reliable – if a paw print showed up, it meant that the mammal had _definitely_ been there.  But not everyone had paw pads, or even pads capable of leaving distinguishable prints, which meant that you were just as likely to find them as not.

But still, to have Forensics sweep the display cases at the museum and to find _nothing_ – no fur, no paw prints, no clothing fibers or anything – was incredible.  Even when taking the utmost care, it was hard for even the most OCD clean-freak mammal not to leave behind _something_.  It meant their thieves were professionals.  Or pigs.  Pigs were the least likely to leave fur, having hardly any, and had no paws to leave prints with.

"No swine on staff at the time, and no mole rats, either," Fangmeyer said as Nick opened his mouth to ask the obvious.  "And, as I said, we’re pretty sure this was an inside job, but Mosen found nothing on the tapes, so," the wolf shrugged, spinning his chair around once, "here we are.  No leads."

"Anything else?" Judy asked.  Delgato and Fangmeyer shared a look, and then Fangmeyer smirked at them.

"Yea, if you’re going to talk to this guy, be prepared for a history lesson or two along the way.  This guy’s been teaching forever, and he doesn’t know how to turn it off.  Again, a great time waster!"  Fangmeyer chuckled, not evening bothering to hide it when Judy glared at him.

"Well, thanks guys, let us know if you think of anything else," Nick said quickly, grabbing Judy by the arm to drag her out of the cubicle after him.  Her posture was rigid for the first few steps, but then she let out a long sigh and relaxed.  There was no point in being angry – they all knew what this was.  She turned her mind to the task at hand.

"Before we review the case in depth, it would be good to interview Ramsey again, so we can get an unbiased perspective before we plan any follow-up," she said as they entered their own cubicle.  "And Fangmeyer’s right – we’re going to have to go through the full list of everyone who has ever had access to the exhibit and also review the security footage they do have."

She paused.  "But I don’t get the motive on these objects in the first place.  I know the art scene has a bit of an underground for stolen works, but what’s the allure with these artifacts?"

"These wouldn’t be easy to move, either," Nick murmured.  "You’d have to have a buyer already lined up."

"And like art, you’d have to keep the collection private, because everyone’s going to know about certain stolen pieces.  Maybe not those pottery shards, but everything else was distinctive.  That being said, I don’t remember anything in the news about it at the time.  Think they depended on the chaos with the Missing Mammals case as a diversion?"

Nick’s tail twitched as he stood by his desk, thinking it over.  "Honestly?  The figurine was first stolen about a week before Bellwether shot anyone up.  It’s possible the others were crimes of opportunity, but this kind of thing takes a lot of planning, especially considering the museum would have ramped up security after the first robbery.  Why space them out?  Why not do it all in one go?  It doesn’t make any sense."

"Maybe they didn’t?" Judy wondered, and then clarified herself when Nick frowned at her.  "Maybe the museum didn’t increase their security.  We’ll have to ask, I guess," she said, pulling out her notebook to jot the thought down.

"So, you have a buyer for the figurine lined up."  Nick started pacing, laying out the scene as he talked.  "You plan and execute the robbery, sell it off, the buyer comes back and says, ‘Hey, got any more where that came from?’  And you luck out, because the police are suddenly dealing with a bunch of missing mammals, and nobody’s paying attention to the first thing you stole, so you go back a second time.  Let’s say the museum _didn’t_ increase security, or at least not in a way that affects you.  Why not grab everything?"

He paused, a finger raised in the air.  He started to tap it against an imaginary object as he continued speaking. "Why grab a second specific object – the, uh," he took a page out of the folder to see the timeline of the robberies, "the horns, then come back a few weeks later, grab the pottery shards, then a month later and finally grab the stones?  And what about the rest of the artifacts on display in that exhibit?  If it’s so easy for you to rob these guys, and you’ve got a buyer or two lined up who is apparently free with his or her money, why not take everything?  Even if you can’t sell it immediately, apparently there’s a market for it, and you’ve got the cash to be patient for the right buyer to come along."

Judy had been flipping through the notes Mosen, Fangmeyer and Delgato had taken, her ears attentively on Nick even as she read.  "I don’t see anything here about the _significance_ of the artifacts.  Just that they’re from some prehistoric civilization?  Huh, I don’t remember this from school at all.  Some pre-Elephantine Age society in the Northlands, definitely not mammoths or elephants, though.  I was always taught they were the first to use tools and build cities, weren’t you?"

"Carrots, I was way too popular in school to have paid attention in class," Nick said, and then let out a bark-like laugh.  "You’re right, we’re going to have to find out what’s the deal with these things when we go down to the museum.  Just great, we really _are_ going to get a history lesson."

Judy sent him a half-hearted scowl at that.  Judy _liked_ to learn new things, thank you very much.  But even she could agree that history was a dry subject at best.  She just hoped a visit to the museum wasn’t going to be a waste of time like it seemed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mosen is the moose we see in a trenchcoat in the movie when Judy first enters the ZPD. We don't know his real name, but I can only hope he hasn't bit anyone's sister.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of lore incoming. I didn't put Worldbuidling as a warning for no reason. :P

" _Thousands of years ago..."_ a disembodied voice began speaking in the darkened semi-amphitheatre.  Judy smiled as the chattering voices of the children seated around her fell into hushed whispers, their many small bodies leaning forward to watch the movie screen light up with fronds of animated grass swaying against a dusky sunset.  They had arrived at the Museum of Classical Antiquities half an hour ago, but had been informed that Professor Ramsey was in the middle of a lecture, and that they would have to wait at least forty-five minutes to an hour for him to be finished. 

Rather than leave and come back, Judy had dragged Nick along to explore the museum while they waited, but he'd begged off watching this mini-movie with her, claiming he'd seen it a million times before.  The little amphitheatre, though darkened, was opened to the rest of the museum, allowing Judy to keep an ear on Nick as he found a security guard to chat with.

She could tell by the cadence of the fox's voice that he wasn't talking police business – she concentrated for a moment, catching words which indicated it was sports talk, and then tuned it out again.  Nick couldn't give a damn about sports, she knew, but it was clever of him to build a repertoire with the museum staff.  He could do that so easily: chat up complete strangers like they were long lost friends, and set even the meekest prey mammal at ease, even if they had reservations about him being a fox.  She left him to it; it was a skill she had never been able to cultivate, though granted she'd never actually wanted to, either.

Nick was usually the nice one whenever they pulled a classic good cop/bad cop routine, something that threw most mammals for a loop.  That ended up helping them more than once when faced with tight-lipped witnesses, if only because it was so unexpected and confusing for people to deal with.  She suspected Nick also secretly loved being the one mammals turned to for help when the mean, angry, and sometimes violent bunny interrogated them.

The music swelled as the narrator told the history of the idyllic, if harsh life on the prehistoric savannah, before the Exodus.  The tale to follow certainly wasn't new to Judy – she had heard it over and over again both in her history class, and also in her church's Bible study groups: the tale of the lion prince Arslam and the zebra warrior Pundamil.  It was a story of friendship, courage and faith against impossible odds, which ended with the founding of the water hole colony that would later become Zootopia.  It had always been Judy's favorite as a little kit, and she oohed and aahhed along with the schoolchildren seated around her as the story unfolded.

A map of Africa appeared on the movie screen, showing a time-lapse of the continent's environmental changes over the millennia as the narrator described a changing global climate.  Judy had never seen an animation like this before, and watched with interest as the pale green representing the ancient savannahs was swallowed whole by the expanding deep green of the tropical jungles. 

The narrator described the Exodus - also a Biblical tale - as many tribes of animals were forced north from their ancestral homes, braving almost certain death to cross a harsh and unforgiving Sahara Desert to the Promised Land: the fertile grasslands stretching along the northernmost coast of the continent.  Judy had also never realized that the Sahara Desert had been so much bigger then, almost covering the whole of the northern half of the continent, as opposed to the thin swathe of barren land it held today.

" _Archaeologists believe that the first legend of the Water Truces originated in times of extreme drought,_ " the narrator intoned against scenes of a muddy watering hole surrounded by mammals and sauropsids of all manner, _"when water scarcity over-rode even the natural bloodlust of predators.  Somehow, this tradition carried over even when the rains returned to become the first of the common laws between the tribes.  After all, as any survivalist knows, drinking comes before eating._ "

Then the scene changed to that of an adorable lion cub with a knobby-kneed zebra colt, and the two scampered in play along the shoreline as the narrator told of the lives of Arslam and Pundamil.  " _As children, their friendship was tolerated by the old lion King Kefir, as he doted strongly on his only remaining son - the others being lost in a war he had recently fought against the hyena matriarch Malika bint Qadira Al Dabae._ " 

The scene changed then, showing the ancient battles the hyenas and lions had fought, a conflict they had brought north with them to the Promised Land.  However, Judy recalled from history class that even those wars hadn't lasted very long, as the lion prides and hyena packs had eventually worked together to drive the wolf packs out of their native territory and north across the Middle Sea, and later again to suppress the wild-dog uprisings.  But the movie being shown was meant for young minds, and didn't go into little details like that which still had political implications within the predator community even today.

She was distracted away from the movie when she heard a pitch change in Nick's voice, and turned around to watch him laugh at something the llama security guard had said.  But there was a slight strain in his tone now, something she didn't even think Nick knew she noticed when he did it, so she stood and went over to rescue him, even as the movie continued to narrate the kidnapping of the teenage Arslam and his subsequent rescue by Pundamil's warriors.

"Ahh, there she is," Nick called brightly as she approached. "Judy, this is Rich!  Rich, this is Officer Judy Hopps.  Rich was just telling me about his ol' alma mater Sheepherd's College and their Affirmative Action programs."  He was showing way too many teeth in the grin he gave her, and she suppressed rolling her eyes.

Judy certainly thought Nick could do with a college education in criminal justice.  After all, he had only recently gotten his GED to get into the Academy and yet still managed to graduate valedictorian.  But he didn't even like talking about the subject with her, let alone with random strangers who often inserted thinly veiled specieist statements into the conversation.

"Hm, that's nice," Judy said, switching into her 'bad cop' mode, frowning slightly at the llama's nametag.  She'd change the conversation to official business, and be the hard-ass so Nick could remain buddy-buddy with the guy later.  "Mr Patagon, is it?  As much as I'd like to chat, we're in a bit of hurry today," she explained patiently, as if she hadn't been wasting time watching a children's movie a minute ago. "Do you mind if you could show us the exhibits that were robbed a couple years back?"

"Uhh, sure," Rich Patagon stammered, flustered at the sudden change in topic.  "It's this way," he said, leading them from the History of Zootopia wing, across the atrium and down a stark marble hallway lined with displays containing crudely carved stone figurines and tools.  At the end of the hall was a giant stone head of an elephant with a stylized, geometric trunk. 

"This hall contains all of our prehistoric or miscellaneous exhibits," he explained as they passed a dimly lit room containing what appeared to be cave paintings.  "You know, the stuff that just doesn't quite fit in the Natural History Museum, but is also too old or too unknown to fit in with anything else.  There used to be a sister exhibit in the National Art Museum, but about seven years ago they combined everything into one exhibit hall here, so it's kinda all over the place."

Judy was surprised the security guard would be so chatty over the exhibits themselves, but then again, he probably spent all day directing tourists and listening to the tours.  He was bound to pick up a thing or two, she reasoned. 

They entered a huge room at the end of the hallway which had a high-domed ceiling with inset lighting around the rim, casting the pebbled brown marble walls and floor with warm, welcoming tones.  Inside, set equidistant from each other, were four columnar display pedestals with sleek granite ramps encircling them.  The ramps were set at heights to allow even the smallest shrew to get a good look at the pieces displayed inside, while the cases themselves were about eye-level for a hippo.  Their tops were giant bulbous glass lenses to allow giraffes and elephants a magnified look at the exhibited items without too much bending down. 

Having spent most of her life in Bunnyburrow, where everything was bunny, sheep and pig height, Judy had never really considered the amount of structural design that went into making every public facility in the city accessible to mammals of all sizes.  No wonder they only opened the cases once or twice a decade – getting that giant glass top off would be a headache and a half.  Unless...was there some sort of trapdoor mechanism underneath?

"I noticed the new ramp pedestals you guys are using," Nick said, nodding to the display cases.  "What happened to the vertical track displays?"

"Oh wow, the old paternosters?  They took those out over a decade ago, before I even started.  I think the Museum of Technology still uses them in the children's exhibits, though."  There was the jarring sound of metal against the marble floors as the security guard set up a temporary rope barricade at the entryway to give them some privacy in the exhibit.

"Paternosters?" Judy asked, having no idea what they were talking about.

"The old exhibits would be in these two-sided divider cases, and all the pieces would be on a vertical track that was slowly moving them up, kind of like a flat water wheel," Rich explained.  "The official term for it is paternoster, which I think is a Northland style of elevator too.  Anyway, at the top and bottom, the pieces would be turned around by gears to face the other direction.  So, a mouse and an elephant could stand in front of the same case, or even on either side, and get an equal chance of seeing the pieces as they passed by."

"But it moved so slow you had to stand there forever just to see everything in a case," Nick added.  "I remember the tour guides had some manual key to over-ride the tracks so they could stop them or speed them up, and that still took forever."

"Yea, those cases also had a lot of moving parts needing a lot of regular maintenance, and not every artifact responded well to the constant movement.  So, they switched them out for the more hypsonomic ramp designs," stated Rich as he stepped up to one of the displays and tapped on the glass with his cloven fingers.  "A few years back, we had these neat touch-screens installed as well."  A holographic window illuminated on the glass in front of his face, and with some surprise to Judy, the inside of the case began to slowly rotate.

She walked up the ramp until the display was eye-level to her, all the way on the opposite side of the case from Rich.  Following his example, she tapped on the glass with her paw, but nothing happened.

"You gotta use your claw," Rich explained.  "The glass is durable enough not to be scratched up by those of us with hooves, but that means anyone smaller than a hippo just trying to use skin or fur alone is going to have a hard time triggering the sensors."  He made a scissoring motion with his fingers, causing the holographic window to grow and shrink in size respectively.  "You can do that if the window is too big or small.  The software does its best to guess the size of the reader, but it still makes a lot of mistakes."

Judy tapped the glass again with her claw, noting with only a cursory glance that Nick was checking out another one of the pedestals, and a square of backlit green text floated up in front of her face, a single line stretching out from the card to encircle one of the artifacts – a jade ring about the size of her head - as it slowly moved within the case.

"You said the other cases were removed because of the frequent maintenance?  What about these?  Do they not require it as much?" Judy asked, reading the text in front of her.  ' _The Jade Ring of Neighpon_ ,' the card read, ' _Jade horn decoration.  Meowazaki, Neighpon: c. 4000-3800 BCE.  Unknown origin, found with to the buried remains of an Eastern Hindali rhinoceros.'_

"I don't think so, they're just pneumatic turntables.  Hardly any moving parts, and what's there is below the floor.  The real issue has been the holographic screens; you can ask Maintenance, but I think they have to work on them pretty frequently – at least once every two years or so," the llama replied, scratching his chin.

"The motors are below the floors?" Nick asked, now inspecting the seam of the pedestal's base against the marble floor.  "Can the cases themselves be accessed from underneath?"

Judy had gotten out her notepad, and began jotting down her thoughts so far.  Nick was right to suspect entry from below the floor, but Judy wondered if they shouldn't be looking more heavily into Maintenance altogether.  Fangmeyer had said the displays were opened every five years, but now Rich said every two.  Someone was mistaken, or lying. 

At this point, something changed in Rich's demeanor as he watched Judy write; he began to get nervous, glancing between the two.  "Uh, you'll have to ask Mike, he's in charge of Security here.  I'm not sure I should be telling you –"

Judy smiled at the flustered security guard, and held up a paw in a placating manner.  "Mr Patagon, we do appreciate your assistance.  We understand if you don't feel comfortable talking about anything that compromises the security measures the museum uses.  You said we should speak to a Mike...?"

"Mike Woolsfield," Rich supplied, noticeably relieved.  "I don't mind showing you two around while you wait for the Professor, and answering any public knowledge questions, but I'm not sure how much detail I'm allowed to go into, even for the police."

"That's alright, Rich," Nick said as he walked over to them, paws in pockets as he surveyed the other cases.  "Which case was robbed, by the way?"

"Oh, this one," Rich answered, nodding to the one he and Judy were looking at.  "The curators took out all of stands for the pieces, and added some new ones to fill the blank spots, but all four were in here."

Judy perked her ears at that.  All four robberies from the same case, at four different times?  She noticed Nick looking up and followed his gaze – there were at least eight cameras in the ceiling.  How had _nothing_ been caught on tape?  "And the plate?"

"The...plate?"

"The one that was found to be fake," Judy clarified.

"Oh, that's over here," Rich said, jumping down and walking over to the case furthest from the entrance.  Following him, Judy now saw the telltale white porcelain peeking out from behind a suit of bamboo armor, previously hidden from view.

"They still have it on display?"  That surprised Judy – why wouldn't they remove it?

"Oh yea, of course.  It's a _really_ good fake," Rich explained, rounding the side of the display case as Judy hopped up the ramp and tapped on the glass in front of the plate.  "About a quarter of the pieces in the museum are replicas, actually, either because the real one's in another museum or private collection somewhere, or because the actual artifact can't handle being in direct light or open air.  And it's not cheap to make some of them, so the curators figured, why not keep it on display?  Of course we'd rather have the _real_ one back, but who knows how long we've been displaying the fake at this point, anyway.  They just updated the text on the label the other day, actually."

 _'The Antioch Relic_ ,' the holographic card read, ' _Porcelain plateware with brushed gilding, replica.  Antioch, Bataly: c. 10000-9500 BCE.  Oldest known example of porcelain and brushed gold leaf decoration.  Unknown culture.  Discovered with notably younger artifacts of a different culture (c. 7800 BCE), suggesting this piece may have been found elsewhere and brought to Antioch._ '

Judy blinked, read the card again, and then reread it just to make sure.  "Is this a typo?  Was the original really twelve thousand years old?  That's - "

"Blasphemous?" a new voice called out from the entryway, having just unclipped the corded red rope from the barricade to enter.  As he turned back towards them and reattached the rope, Judy saw he was aging grey-wooled ram in a tweed vest and corduroy slacks, looking every bit the stereotypical academic.  He was only missing the square spectacles, and possibly a cobb pipe.

"I was going to say insane, but yes, that too," she replied with a smile, hopping down from the ramp to approach the ram with her paw extended.  Nick was at her side a moment later as she shook the ram's hoof, and Judy noticed the slight hesitation before the ram took Nick's paw next.  She faintly recalled that Bellwether had gone to Sheepherd's College, too.

"I'm Officer Wilde, this is Officer Hopps," Nick began gruffly.  "I take it you're Professor Mortimer Ramsey?"  The sheep nodded once before Nick continued, "We've been assigned to the faux relic case, and we're trying to get an understanding of the artifact's importance.  We were also led to believe that you believe it's connected with the other robberies?"

"I don't see how it couldn't be!" the ram spoke in an imperious manner, and Judy noticed how he seemed to be speaking at her even as he responded to Nick's question.  "They were all extremely important and valuable pieces, all from this same exhibit.  Why, the museum hasn't had any other robberies in the past decade except for these!"

"But they're in different cases - ?" Judy started to ask before Ramsey cut her off.

"When the stones were robbed, our Security team felt it best to move our most important piece, the Antioch Relic, to another case," Ramsey replied stiffly.

"Are there any differences in the access to the cases which would make them think moving it would matter?" Nick asked, surveying the scene again.  As far as Judy could tell, they were all identical.

"I believe the back case has better angles for the security cameras," Rich interjected from the side.  "As for access to the cases, you'll have to ask Mike, or maybe the head of Maintenance.  Uh, Robert Rosethorn."  Rosethorn was a rabbit name, Judy thought, jotting the name down all the same.

"So what _is_ the significance of the artifacts, Mr Ramsey?" Nick asked, and Judy had to hide her smirk when the ram stood up straighter.

" _Professor_ Ramsey, if you please – "

"Right, my apologies.  Besides the age of the plate, was there anything else special about it or the other artifacts?"

"The Antioch Relic is unparallel in significance _because_ of its age, Officer.  It throws everything we know about the roots of our civilization into question!  The earliest examples of porcelain we have after this are half a world away in the Pandalonian cultures, but yet only four thousand years ago.  No one should have been making regular ceramics this delicate and refined twelve thousand years ago, yet alone porcelain, yet alone so far removed from the cradle of Elephantine civilization in modern-day Pachystan." 

The longer the ram spoke, the more a strange fervor seemed to overtake him, raising his voice and attracting the attention of some tourists as they passed by outside.  Rich noticed the small gathering, and went over to the rope barricade to disperse them.

"So who do you think made it?" Judy asked, thinking back on what she remembered about prehistory.  Scripture said a lot, she knew, but she honestly couldn't remember a lot about it from school.  To suggest anyone except an elephant made it would piss some mammals off, though, and not just the religious groups.  But looking at the piece now, even as a replica, she had to agree that it didn't fit.  All the old Elephantine Age art, she recalled, was heavy and rough, with decoration depicted in trunks or tusks.  Judy wasn't an expert to really know what made something elephant-made, except that this small, delicate item looked anything but.

At this, the professor shrugged, but the way his eyes darted to the plate made Judy think he _did_ have a theory.  Instead, he said, "We only know it was found with an early mixed ovine culture that existed about 9800 years ago, and it was found stashed within a cave wall cubby.  Next to the figurine that was stolen, actually."

"Oh, so you found the figurine as well, Mr Ramsey?"  Nick had perked his ears up on hearing that, and Judy saw the lower jaw of the ram flex in response to Nick's taunt.

"I found _all_ of the artifacts that were stolen, _Mister_ Wilde," Ramsey lowly said, emphasizing the title with a slow drawl.

But Judy could see Nick's train of thought now.  "You have other artifacts you found, though, right Professor?" she asked.  "Ones that haven't been stolen?"

The ram forced his gaze away from her partner, and gave her a rather benign smile.  "Of course, my dear.  I have been in the field for over fifty years now!  I have hundreds of pieces here and in the National Art Museum.  There are even a few in the Natural History Museum, though those were unintentional finds, admittedly."  He chuckled at that.  "Us archaeologists do cross paths with paleontologists more likely than we would like, especially those who dig as deep as I do."

"So, you wouldn't think that someone stole these artifacts specifically to target or discredit you?" Judy clarified, her carrot pen a whirl as she wrote.  She had subtly started recording the conversation earlier, some part of her feeling off about the ram's demeanor.

"Oh, I suppose that's a thought.  I wouldn't count it out entirely.  Certainly, I have upset many in my field with my discoveries, especially the ones in early ovine cultures."

"So how were the other artifacts related, then?" Judy asked.  She shifted her weight, one ear still focused on Rich as he chatted with a couple tourists.  She thought it relevant that he had skedaddled once the Professor arrived, and then not returned to their conversation; if he was so well disliked by the museum staff, then maybe someone did rob the artifacts just to spite him.  Of course, the problem with that theory is that they really wouldn't be robbing Ramsey, they'd be robbing the museum.  They'd have to see if there were any malcontents.

"Well, this is all just _theory_ , mind you," Ramsey began, and Judy could see he was winding up for another lecture, "but I believe they build a case for a prehistoric ovine civilization in the Northlands that was far more advanced than the elephants in either Africa or Pachystan were at the time.  Certainly, there were mammoths in the area as well, but we have no indication that they ever advanced past stone spears as far as technology went.  Something must have happened, of course, for a sheep civilization to later crumble without a trace, but..."

He brushed past them, heading back towards the case the plate was in, motioning for Judy to follow him back up the ramp to view the piece.  "Now, I know this is just a replica, but I assure you, it is remarkably well done, and still pertinent to the point I am trying to make.  See how thin and delicate it is?  And the gilding is in brushed gold, while elephantine societies always favored gemstones or iron at best, but never precious metals.  Furthermore, the floral pattern we see is entirely out-of-character as well, almost pastoral in nature.

"Now, that could probably apply to a _lot_ of grazing mammals, certainly.  But it was found being kept by a relatively advanced ovine culture, two thousand years after its creation, and I cannot believe that isn't significant.  It was found next to the stone figurine, which I believe – and certainly, this opinion is not solely held by me - is a clear representation of a primitive sheep; perhaps a deity of some sort.  The same culture also carved the wooden horns that were stolen, albeit at a different location, but the foundations of the structures in both dig sites were nearly identical.  Lastly, the pottery shards were found there, also clearly depicting sheep and pastoral etchings not unlike the Antioch Relic."

He took a breath to continue, and Judy jumped in; the guy really didn't know how to turn it off.  "And what about the stones?"

"The stones?  Oh yes, the stones!  Those were found at a third location with similar structures, but honestly I would not think them as relevant as the rest.  I believe they were used in a primitive religious ritual of some sort, or maybe even fortune-telling.  Our analysis of the surface shows that at one time they were painted, but we could not determine any imagery.  They were unique and interesting, and certainly an important look at life in these primitive cultures, but certainly not as impactful as the others."

"And are these pieces the only ones that fit in with your sheep theory?" Nick asked from at the bottom of the ramp, not having followed them up, fingers looped in his belt.  He was affecting a bored expression to hide a snide one.  Judy knew it killed him to remain professional at times like these, but trusted him to keep it reined in.  She would have not trusted herself in a similar situation, though.

"There are some pieces in Eyrieland and Hamsterdam that I believe also confirm it, but yes, these pieces were the main evidence for my theory.  I believe that the ovine culture that created the stones, pottery, horns and the figurine were the descendents, or remnants of the previously advanced culture which crafted the Antioch Relic.  After all, societies just don't _disappear_ without a trace.  And granted, this theory has not sat well with many of my colleagues, but there is an undeniable link between them and the missing relic, if only for the location where it was discovered," Ramsey said, once again replying to Judy rather than Nick.

"Do you think the swap could have taken place during one of the robberies?"

"I suppose," the ram said as he tapped a cloven finger against his chin, and eyed her haughtily.  "But that's your job to figure out, isn't it?"

* * *

"Wow," Nick said later as they sat in the museum's food court to go over Judy's notes.  "I'd rob him, too, just to see the look on his face.  What a cu–" the fox paused as Judy gave him a very stern look indeed, "complete tool."

She had to agree that the ram had been incredibly rude to Nick, which the fox had only encouraged by being snide back, until it got to a point where she had to make excuses for them to leave.  "I know, but you didn't have to antagonize him, Nick."  At least Ramsey hadn't seemed to take his ire out on her completely, and had deigned to give her the contact information for the graduate student who had been doing a project on the Antioch Relic when they discovered it to be a fraud.

Nick's ears fell flat a bit, and he looked to be struggling between defending himself or apologizing to her.  He was the lead on the case, and had potentially ostracized a key informant.  But Judy didn't want to lecture him; instead, she smiled and covered his paw with her own.  "I can't say I would have done better, though.  He was a total jerk."

He grinned, and Judy felt her heart warm a bit as that crestfallen look left him.  "You can take point on the grad student, Carrots.  I wouldn't want to offend another one of Sheepherd's College's finest and lose my chance to enroll in their leading Criminology program."  But even as he winked at her, he slid his paw out from underneath hers awkwardly, and Judy couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment.  She couldn't quite place why she would feel that way now, though – Nick was always uneasy with being comforted.

"Should we split up, then?  I'll go talk to this Peter Smirnov, you talk to the head of Security, and I'll go for that Rosethorn guy.  Given the name, I think he's probably a rabbit," she paused, and then began to stutter nervously at the look he gave her.  "Uh, um, not that I don't think you couldn't h-handle..."

Nick chortled and held up a finger, wagging it, "One, I am honestly _insulted_ that you think that little display of yours will get me so distracted that I'll just meekly go along with that hare-brained plan of yours."  Judy sighed, rolling her eyes off to the side.  _Well, damn it._   Nick continued, holding up another finger, "Two, _you_ are on restricted duty, which means you can't go interviewing anyone on your own, anyway, sweetheart." 

He held up a third finger, his eyes now squinting at her.  "Three, _I_ am lead on this case, which means I am going to be right up your tail every step of the way, Carrots.  You are _dreaming_ if you think you're doing _anything_ without me.  There will be no 'splitting up', no," his voice affected a falsetto for the next part, "'but Chief Bogo, Nick wasn't around so I had to arrest the suspect myself' or whatever it is you're thinking about doing to get around his restricted duty embargo."

Nick leaned forward then across the small table they were sharing, his muzzle stopping inches away from hers.  "And if that doesn't sit well with you, Fluff, I will take this case back to Bogo and happily go back to the drunk wagon."  He stopped, smiling.  "It was actually pretty fun, after all.  Reunited with a lot of folks I hadn't seen in years!"

Judy leaned her head against her paw, and lazily swatted Nick's nose away from her face with her other.  He leaned back and crossed his arms, looking serious and doing his best impression of the Chief, which was admittedly hilarious.  She gave him a soft smile.

"Nick, I wasn't trying to subvert you, you know that."  The fox only 'mmm-hmmed' in response.  "And I know I'm not _technically_ allowed to do anything without you, but I thought –"  She paused at the raised eyebrow Nick gave her then.  "Okay, maybe I was trying to subvert the Chief a little, but not you!"

"And if he finds out about it, guess who he's going to throw the book at?"

She sighed.  "I'm sorry, Nick.  You're right.  We'll do everything together, or not at all.  No splitting up.  After all, you will have a lot of paperwork to file at the end of this."  She gave her best predatory smile as Nick's ears fell and his eyes widened when he realized the implications of his previous conditions.  "I wouldn't want to get in the way of that!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course, I had to give a nod to the Jungle Book with that Water Truce bit. If you haven't seen the new movie, you should! It's great!
> 
> Hypsonomic is like ergonomic, except that hypso is Greek for height. They do seem to love their Greek root words in Zootopia, so I continued the trend.
> 
> As far as place names go, I struggled with whether or not to rename Africa. I thought it relevant that Sahara is in the movie, and most likely they officially use many of the same place names. 'Africa' is a very, very old word, most likely also rooted in Greek, and it would make sense in this story to keep it. But there's a lot of places that are going to get animal puns. As I said...I'm trying my best. If anything gets confusing, please let me know.
> 
> Lastly, I still could use a beta. If you see any errors, or anything that doesn't make sense, please let me know so I can correct them!

**Author's Note:**

> I could also really use a beta if anyone wants to take on the task. For now, let me know if you spot any errors! And as always, I appreciate your honest feedback and kudos!


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